The Thief: A Different Story
by Enpowera
Summary: Based on 'The Thief' by Megan Turner. What if Eugenides had been a girl? Join Gen as she works to commit the ultimate theft and get away from the guards safely. Somewhat implied Gen/Sophos, but no actual romance and more friendship.
1. Best Thief in the World? Updated

**Enpowera:** I decided to update the chapters with better versions before continuing the story. I apologize for the very very long delay and the further delay of the last few chapters. Very serious events happened in my life that threw me into a writers slump and I lost the chapter I was working on last year. In order to get back into the swing of things, I'm updating current chapters before continuing. Expect a new chapter in 3 to 6 weeks. I loaned out my copy of 'The Thief' so it'll be a while. Yes, I have the story memorized, but it's better to have a reference, no?

**Summary: **What if Eugenides had been a girl? how would it affect the plot? Would she still get the stone, or be overcome by female weakness? What about romance? Would it spark rivalry between Sophos and Ambiades? (not likely) Ignores the sequels as I doubt a female Gen would work in those books.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'The Thief' by Megan Whale Turner.

**Extra Note:** I have approximated Gen's, Sophos's and Ambiades's ages. Sophos would be around 13-14, Gen 14-15, and Ambiades 16-18. This is based around information taken from all the books. I may or may not be correct. They may seem young, but Gen was still considered a child in KoA, which is set about 4 years in the future.

**Warning:** This will contain spoilers, if you haven't read 'The Thief' then go read it. Also be aware of the fact the at this point in time, Gen was very sure of himself, so it shows in blatant egotism.

~~~**Prologue~~~**

A young teenager kicked and screamed while trying to escape two royal guards. Her brown hair had come lose from its normal braid and now hung wildly about her shoulders, stopping just past her shoulder blades.

"I'll escape from here you know! No prison can hold me," she boasted, before being slammed into the cell. The young woman was locked up tight, having manacles on her hands, feet, and one around her waist.

One would expect this kind of punishment for a strong man who had murdered someone, not a young woman who had done nothing more than injure pride.

You see, she wasn't just any young woman, she was a great thief. The girl had stolen the King's seal ring from the Magus- a feat no one was willing to attempt nor thought they could do- but she did it and was now paying the price. In the glow of the dull oil lamps hung in the prison one of the guards thought they saw a smirk on the thief's face.

* * *

It had been about five months since I was arrested in front of a wine store. I supposed it served me right, stealing something and then having the nerve to brag about it in public. The things a girl will do to impress a guy.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not a whore who'll sleep with any guy who'll have me, I _hate_ women like that; it gives us all a bad reputation. I just wanted a place to stay for a while, as it was getting quite expensive staying at an inn.

Anyway, back to the story. It had been about five months since I was locked in this hell hole when something interesting happened. Several guards arrived at my cell, looking for me.

"That her?" one guard asked confused. I don't blame him; I looked like a wreck, my hair was knotted down to the middle of my back and my whole body covered in nasty prison dirt. I wouldn't believe that I was the thief who stole the king's seal either.

"Yes," the other guard laughed as he unlocked the door. He strolled over to me and undid the manacle around my waist. Were they letting me free?

I was roughly pulled up and dragged away from the cell. My hopes of being released slowly vanished as several frightening thoughts crossed my mind, most of which I'd rather not describe to you.

While walking the guards started moving too fast, which caused me to trip and stumble a few times- which earned me a rough kick. Jerks, expecting me- the world's best thief- to be able to walk after months of nothing but moldy bread and nasty, watery soup! I was so undernourished that I hadn't even had my monthly bleed since I got here! But oh no, they expect me to be able to walk off being starved half to death!

My internal rants were cut short as we entered a study. It was quite nice. The guards left me there, confident that I wouldn't escape. I was admiring the quality of a plush chair, when I heard a cough. Not the cold kind, but the 'look at me and listen' kind. I turned and saw the Magus waiting impatiently.

The Magus was a man in his 30's, with graying hair. He was quite tall; I didn't even reach his shoulders. He was saying something, but I wasn't listening. He grabbed me by my shirt and shook me, which caused him to hold my attention. He asked me my name, in case the guards had made a mistake and brought the wrong person to him. I was the right person.

"Gen, I want you to steal something for me. If you do succeed, you'll be let free," he told me.

"What's the catch?" There was always one.

"We'll be traveling across country," the Magus answered.

I shrugged, not too bad of a catch; it just meant that I could escape easier, "Okay."

A short, bear-like figure stepped out behind a tapestry, "If you try running off we'll offer this reward for your return," the king warned, dumping a bag of gold at my feet. A farmer would turn in his own child for that kind of money.

"I won't run away," I stated; the king smirked at this and left.

The Magus smirked as well before calling for the guards to take me back to my cell. They arrived promptly and dragged me off. I was soon chained up in my cell again.

'I'll escape soon,' was the last thought I had before I went to sleep.

I was awakened the next day by the guards roughly shaking me. Undoing all of the manacles and chains on me, they dragged through the halls. Apparently we were leaving earlier than I had expected.

After walking down a long, dark hallway we reached a door. One of the guards unlocked it and shoved me out into the sun. It felt like a thousand needles hitting my eyes.

"HOLY MOTHER OF THE GODS THAT IS BRIGHT," I screamed in pain, quickly shutting my eyes and shaking my head so that my hair hid the sun from view. Unfortunately the guards kept dragging me across the courtyard.

Eventually my eye adjusted to the light and I started looking around. The Magus was standing beside several horses with two boys around my age unpacking saddle bags. Weird, shouldn't they be packing the saddle bags instead? Then the Magus yelled, before sending a man- who looked to be 30 or so- to get something. The man- who I later learned was named Pol- returned with a riding crop. I hoped it was for the horses and not me. I quickly found out it was for me. Joy, mess up and get beaten, a kind man is the Magus. Note sarcasm.

Soon it was time to go; I quickly realized that we would be riding the horses. No way would I ride a horse, it would probably buck me off as soon as I got on! I slowly started backing away from the horse that I was to ride, but Pol grabbed me by my shirt and gently set me on the horse. Replacing 'gently set' with 'roughly threw'.

We headed out and into the city. I looked around, trying to find a familiar face. I recognized a man who I had become friends with, but the Magus quieted me when I called for him.

We reached the outer limits of the city and soon were in the country. It was getting really hot and I was getting really tired. All the prison dirt on me had mixed with sweat, so I was getting itchy as well. I could feel my eyes growing heavy and soon the world went black.


	2. Budding friendship updated

**Enpowera: **This chapter has been updated, so hopefully obvious errors that I am kicking myself for are removed. I hope you enjoy.

**Summary: **What if Eugenides had been a girl, how would it affect the plot? Would she still get the stone, or be overcome by female weakness? What about romance? Would it spark rivalry between Sophos and Ambiades? Ignores QoA and KoA.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'The Thief' by Megan Whalen Turner.

**Warning:** This will contain spoilers, if you haven't read 'The Thief' then go read it. Also contains the misuse of commas-more likely than not, as they are my most popular grammar error.

* * *

It had been a few days since the 'fainting' incident, as the Magus had dubbed it. Here's a quick recap of what happened:

The Magus decided that we should keep going, so I, while still passed out, had to ride a horse with Pol. Once we reached the inn a few hours later, I was revived with some smelling salts. Not an experience I would suggest having. After I had recovered a bit more and had some food, the innkeeper's wife took me to a bathing area to clean up. I would have been there all night- scrubbing off the prison dirt- but innkeeper's wife only let me bathe for 30 minutes before arriving with a change of clothing and a towel to dry off with. She grabbed my dirty clothing, having been told to burn them, she also tried to burn my special made boots but thankfully she left them when I begged her not to take them.

Once dry, I went to put on the clothing, a simple night dress. Not my first choice of clothing, but I figured it would work, as it was better than the pile of rags I was wearing before. Before I could pull on the nightgown, someone opened the door. I turned to look at the person; it was Sophos…. His face was beet red when he realized that I was only wearing a towel. My face had also turned red, but I quickly snapped out of my embarrassment and grabbed one of my boots, getting ready to throw it. Sophos got the point and quickly apologized before running out of the room, thankfully remembering to shut the door.

I finished getting dressed and went to leave the room, walking straight into Ambiades' chest. I quickly backed up and glared, "what do you want?"

"The Magus sent me to fetch you, since the idiot couldn't do the job right without running away,"

Ambiades was looking me up and down while saying this, probably mentally undressing me. Probably being egotistical there- I was skin and bones at the time on top of probably still looking like a mess- so I doubt I was actually that appealing. It did seem perverted at the time though.

"Okay, just let me grab my boots," I pretended not to notice his eyes following my every move. I prayed to the gods that I wouldn't have to share a room with him as we headed towards the upper part of the inn- where the rooms where.

Thankfully the gods were listening and I shared with Sophos and Pol. Downside, I was chained to the stupid bed by my ankle. Pol and Sophos got the beds, while I was stuck with the floor! After Pol had fallen asleep, Sophos took to looking at me with a blush. Poor kid was probably traumatized for life, but at least he learned to knock before entering the bathing chamber.

We awoke early the next morning and I was given a blue riding dress to change into. I tried to convince Pol to let me borrow some of Sophos's clothing instead, but he refused and forced me to wear the evil thing. Dresses: Pretty, but impractical for my line of work.

After a quick breakfast, we headed out to only the Gods (and the Magus) knew where.

We traveled onwards a few hours- till we stopped for lunch. It was at a rather small place. The food wasn't quite good, but it was edible.

Lunch finished and the boys got packed up and ready to leave, but I was too exhausted to get up. This led to grumbling as Ambiades tried to get me up, our potential fight stopped by Sophos leading my horse over to the table. Sophos is such a sweet boy, I wonder why he was dragged on this journey. He must have done something bad in his past life, especially being forced to be around Ambiades so much.

We continued traveling and didn't stop till past nightfall. The next day we continued traveling in the same manner, but stopped once we reached a broken down farm. I rested there for about a day.

While at the broken down farm, the Magus got more food and paid a man to take care of the horses.

We headed out on foot and continued journeying for a few days.

One of the days, I was roughly awakened by the Magus. After being accused of stealing food, he had Pol beat me with the riding whip! I can hardly believe they actually did that. Where I come from, you don't punish unless the person was caught, but obviously they had grown up differently.

A little before noon we headed out again, stopping at a clearing a bit later. The Magus and Pol went ahead into a nearby town to get more food, leaving Sophos and Ambiades to watch me.

We finished off the food, I feeling a twinge of guilt as Sophos only got a very small amount after Ambiades and I got a larger share.

I had actually gotten quite close to Sophos over the past week or so, him and me chatting quietly when I awoke during his watch. This led me to be very surprised when he agreed to tie me up so that he and Ambiades could go fishing.

Ambiades had tied the rope to0 tight, so by the time they returned, I had lost all feeling in my hands, which were turning a lovely shade of blue. Ambiades actually cursed and apologized, while Sophos kept repeating his apology over and over again. Neither of them could get it undone and so when Pol returned he had to cut the rope with a knife.

Several pain relieving berries later and I agreed to not tell the Magus, for fear of Sophos getting in trouble. I mean, it wasn't Sophos's fault that he was a pushover who let Ambiades bully him.

It took several days for Sophos to get back on my good side though, but I finally forgave him as we traveled across a wasteland of dried volcanic rock. Ambiades had been left behind and with that my own attitude had improved. Sophos and I became very close.

I surprised him when I told him about when I was younger. I told him about my brothers and sisters and on how my father wanted me to be a soldier. I remember the conversation following my slip up very clearly:

"Why would your father want you to be a soldier? The army is male only," Sophos inquired, confusion in his eyes.

"He had hoped that they'd make an exception," I quickly covered up.

I still don't understand how I could have forgotten that Sounis didn't have a male and female army.(1) Good news is that Sophos had bought my reason hook, line, and sinker.

While we traveled across the dystopia- the proper name of the wasteland- both me and the magus took turns telling stories of the old gods, which is how I learned of what I was to steal. I probably just threw you off, didn't I?

You see there are two sets of Gods: the new Gods and the old Gods. I don't know much about the new gods, except that they are the gods of the Invaders, Sounis, and Attolia. Eddis still worships the old Gods.

Anyway, back to the story. We eventually finished crossing the dystopia and stopped by a river, at the base of a waterfall. The magus told me to sleep the rest of the day and I wasn't one to disobey.

I was awakened by a noise after nightfall or rather a lack of noise. The water had slowly stopped going over the waterfall.

The magus explained what was happening and what was going to happen to Sophos, who had asked curiously.

The water was stopping because of a reservoir upstream. The waterfall would stop falling for about 3 nights a year. It would reveal a temple, which would contain Hamiathe's Gift, the item I was supposed to steal.

Hamiathe's gift was proof that a person was to rule Eddis. It was originally passed down from father to son in the Royal family, but was lost during the time of the invaders. Many thought it was a legend, but apparently it was real.

* * *

**(1) **I figured that since Eddis had a Queen, she would let women join the army, to show how strong women can be.


	3. Oh, look, soldiers Updated

**Enpowera: **Still working on the next chapter. I apologize. I hope you do enjoy, though. **  
**

**Summary: **What if Eugenides had been a girl, how would it affect the plot? Would she still get the stone, or be overcome by female weakness? What about romance? Would it spark rivalry between Sophos and Ambiades? Ignores QoA and KoA.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'The Thief' by Megan Whalen Turner.

**Warning:** This will contain spoilers, if you haven't read 'The Thief' then go read it. Also contains the misuse of commas, as I was sick when we covered proper comma usage.

* * *

It was dark, cold, and wet; the only thought on my mind as I searched through this confusing temple. I could also swear someone was following me, but who? No one- except me- would be crazy enough to enter this place. I hoped…

I was slowly starting to think that the Magus had made a mistake, and that the stone wasn't in the temple. The only thing in here was a large obsidian tablet and a hallway with trick doorways at both sides of it. Oh, there was also a giant pile of bones here too. Joy….

As I passed the obsidian glass for the millionth time, I stopped to look at it closer. It was tall enough to be a doorway, and wide enough too….. Oh, DUH!

An evil smirked appeared on my face as I raised my crowbar to hit the obsidian glass. I hit it as hard as I could, making it to crack a bit and a few pieces to break off. I continued beating the obsidian glass with the crowbar, the crack getting larger, as well as bigger pieces flying off. If I was correct, then there was a doorway behind the obsidian, if not, I would be one rich little thief. With one last good hit, the obsidian shattered, flinging its glass like pieces everywhere. Behind it was a passageway. It looked like I was right.

I quickly ran through the passageway and up the stairs that appeared before me, realizing that time was running short.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I arrived in a room full of statues of the Old Gods. Straight in front of me was Hephestia, sitting on a throne. In her lap was a tray that held Hamiathe's Gift.

I started walking towards the statue, when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. The statues were alive! Panic began to set in as I realized just what taking Hamiathe's Gift would mean.

A male's voice spoke out, "Take it, you have not yet offended the gods." I turned and saw that a figure had stepped forward. It was Euginides, the God of Thieves. A sudden noise drew my attention away from him, the river was returning! "Take it now if you wish to succeed," he urged again.

That was enough to cause me to take action. I grabbed Hamiathe's gift and made a run for it.

The water was pouring in, rising higher and higher, quicker and quicker. I barely made it to the now closed entrance before the water washed me away. I struggled against it, but eventually blacked out.

* * *

I felt someone's lips against mine, gently breathing air into me. I also felt pain as someone put pressure on my diaphragm.

As I slowly regained consciousness, the memories came rushing back. Arriving to the waterfall, a night spent in a cold temple, panicing, another night spent wet and lost, warning the Magus to move camp, one last entry into the temple, the obsidian doorway, the gods, Hamiathe's Gift!

I jerked awake, and rolled over onto my side, coughing up the river water.

"You're alive!" I heard a young male voice exclaim, before I was engulfed in a hug.

"Trying to breathe here…" I weakly protested, smiling slightly at the relief in Sophos' voice.

"Sorry!" Sophos apologized, releasing his hug.

I was about to answer, when two figures ran up to us.

"I heard yelling," the Magus stated, before eyeing me. "Gen, you're alive!"

"Takes more than drowning to keep me down," I responded, happy to know he did care. I raised a hand to wave hello, but when I open my fist, Hamiathe's gift fell out. The look of surprise on everyone's face was priceless. "Told you I could steal anything," I smirked.

"Let's head back home…" was all the Magus could manage to say. Sophos stood up off the ground and dusted himself off. I went to do the same, but fell right back down again. Apparently I was still exhausted from drowning.

Pol sighed and walked towards me, before picking me up bridal style. "Let's head out," He stated, before starting to walk back the way we came, the Magus and Sophos following.

We reached Ambiades after a two day hike. We quickly realized that we would have a problem concerning food, as he had finished off the rations left with him, having thought we had died.

After the Magus scolded him, we headed off again, hoping to reach the next town soon.

On the way there, we were attacked by soldiers. Not having a weapon, I used the Magus as a boost to climb up a tree. I watched the fight from there, before grabbing Sophos and dragging him up in the tree. The idiot almost got himself killed several times before he had been within my reach.

The skirmish only lasted around ten minutes, but in that time Pol, Ambiades, and the Magus had managed to finish off the soldiers. Sophos jumped out of the tree, before giving me a hand down.

"Why weren't you two fighting," Ambiades shot at us.

"I don't have a weapon and Sophos almost got himself killed several times before I saved his butt," I retorted angrily, before turning to face the Magus, only to stare in shock. Hamiathe's Gift, which had been hanging around the Magus's neck, was gone! All my hard work and nearly drowning, gone!

The Magus looked down, thinking he had been injured, but instead he noted that the gift was gone. "We'll search the river for the gift." He stated.

Several hours later, we were all shivering and wet, having been searching the river for Hamiathe's gift. The Magus eventually gave up and said that they'd just duplicate it, as he now knew what it looked like. If glares could kill, then the magus would be six feet under.

After drying off a bit, the Magus led us to a town to get supplies. We all gathered around an old campfire, surrounded by merchants and other travelers. The Magus then explained that once it was nightfall, I would have to go into town and steal them some food and some horses.

"But I can't steal a horse!" I complained, being terrified of the creatures and knowing how much noise they made.

"I thought you could steal anything," the Magus joked- smirking- knowing he'd get his way.

"Things don't make noise…" I stated with a huff. Later that night, I still went out and stole some food. When it came to the horses, I was a bit more reluctant, but I sucked it up and entered the stables the Magus had told me about.

It was there that things started to get weird. After sending up a quick prayer that the horses didn't make too much noise, I led 5 of them out. As we entered the courtyard area of the stables, the horse's hooves made no noise as they struck the cobblestone that had been laid down. I thought I had gone deaf, till I ran into the Magus, who had come to check on me.

We returned to our camp, before having a quick supper. We then got on our horses and rode off into the night, not stopping till the next day.

While we were stopped, we were ambushed by the Queen of Attolia's army. The Magus, Pol, and Ambiades pulled out their weapons and started fighting skillfully, Sophos on the other hand almost got himself killed 4 or 5 times. After watching Sophos nearly get beheaded for the 6th time, I grabbed his sword and started fighting.

"Run ahead, I'll keep them distracted!" I called out, as I skillfully fought off several army men. The Magus seemed a bit reluctant, but ran on ahead, Pol, Ambiades, and Sophos following; they had faith I would keep my word.

"Catch me if you can," I yelled to the guardsmen, before taking off into the nearby woods. They followed, but were nowhere near as fast as me. I kept running till I reached a cliff face. I turned to go a different direction, but I was surrounded! The rest was a blur to me.


End file.
